Chapters (68)
- Dedication
- Title Page
- Contents
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Copyright
“What is your point?”
“The point is when he got into it.”
“I’m sorry, I’m still not getting you, Mr. Weaver.”
“Did he get into the car before the crash, or after the crash?”
“What?”
“Let me ask you this. You say five people saw him getting out of the car. No one saw him getting into the car. How many people saw the actual accident? How many saw him hit Sian McFadden with the Porsche?”
“No one,” Finch said without hesitation. “It doesn’t matter. Mr. Weaver, let me ask you something. If someone rams your car in the parking lot, and you get out and see a driver in the other car, do you need to have seen him get into that car to know who hit you?”
“Why do you sound more like a prosecutor than a defense attorney?”
“I’ve had just about enough. I did everything I could for that boy. Jeremy is free today because of the work I did.”
“Are you telling me it never occurred to you or anyone else to look at the whole stick-shift thing?”
“Even if someone had mentioned it, which they did not, it would have been a non-starter. You can’t structure a defense with two wildly divergent strategies. We can’t suggest he was never in the car at the same time we concede he was but was not responsible for his actions.”
I thought about that.
“Are you still there, Mr. Weaver?”
“I’m here.”
“Look, forgive my tone. I can tell by what you’re saying that you’re concerned for Jeremy. Believe me, we all have been, from the very beginning. No one more than Gloria, who was willing to sacrifice her reputation, to be ridiculed, in fact, to save her son. At every step of the way we’ve acted in his best interest.”
“Sure,” I said.
“So I appreciate your bringing this to my attention, but I wouldn’t worry about it.”
“But how do you explain it? How do you explain the fact that Jeremy could not drive my car? At least, not without a lot of instruction. And that was sober. How did he get behind the wheel of Galen Broadhurst’s car and, drunk out of his mind, instantly master the art of a manual shift?”
“The fact is, somehow he did,” Finch said. “Have you considered that he was putting you on?”
“What?”
“Maybe he was having some fun with you. Maybe he does know how to drive a car like that, but pretended not to.”
When I didn’t say anything right away, Finch said, “Mr. Weaver? You there?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Did you hear what I said? Maybe he was just pretending not to—”
“I heard you.”
“Although I can’t think of a single reason why he would do that,” Finch said. “Can you?”
I was about to say no, I couldn’t.
But then something occurred to me.